Fifteen project finalists have been shortlisted by a panel of high-profile designers, engineers, academics and journalists for the design-focussed James Dyson Award. They will now be judged by the aforementioned Founder and designer of the iconic Dyson vacuum cleaner, where a winner and two runners-up will be selected.

With the brief to "design something that solves a problem," there have been a vast array of creatively brilliant ideas with real potential to enrich and aid people's lives. These innovationary concepts (with 3 from the UK selected) are as follows:

The BETH Project

Abbreviated from "Benevolent Technologies for Health," BETH is a new take on prosthetic limbs. It is designed with a specialised 'jammable' material that can self adjust to the constantly changing shape of the amputee's physiology, and kept inexpensive through the use of modern manufacturing techniques.

STEPHOE - Working Down To Earth

A rather archaic agricultural tool such as the Hoe has been in much need of a modern upgrade, especially something as simply brilliant as attaching a step onto it. Designed for farmers in developing countries, the STEPHOE aims to eliminate any backpain that comes from running this 1.5 kg metal blade attached to a wooden post.

Smart Aid

One of my favourites. Smart Aid is an interactive emergency call system, turning the idea of a drone from a system of surveillance to one that provides care for anybody who finds themselves stuck in a dangerous situation. A smartphone app will call the UAV over, which contains key first aid equipment such as a defibrilator.

SafetyNet - Escape Rings

Due to commercial fishing operations catching increasing amounts of juvenile and non-target fish, stocks are constantly declining. With this in mind, SafetyNet is equipped with illuminated escape rings that are a perfect fit for young fish to escape without losing the prime stock. It essentially is the oceanic version of emergency exit signs.

ReWired

ReWired allows your ceiling light to be moved across all axes to a position you want via a series of cables and pulleys. Using a mobile app, you can control the positioning of this light, and create preset locations so that it will move to the perfectly arranged position for any task such as cooking or reading.

Revival Vest

A nifty gadget for the swimmer: the Revival Vest is a self inflating life jacket that uses a smart fabric technology to monitor your respiration, by constantly detecting the changes in the circumference of your chest. If the user blacks out, the vest will immediately inflate, bringing the swimmer back up to the surface. And the inflation areas are positioned as such so the person will be pre-positioned in the upright safety position, ready for resuscitation.

Reach & Match

Making braille engaging for both blind and visually impaired children, Reach & Match is an innovative new take on introducing the patterns, symbols and spatial awareness of this form of literacy in an exciting and accessible fashion.

O2 Pursuit

Now this is another interesting take on the idea of using air as fuel. The O2 Pursuit is a motorbike that runs solely on compressed air.

LOUIS

For a place such as the rather grey and overcast Britain we live in, a unique concrete that reacts to water and reveals geometric patterns would be perfect for brightening up anyone's rain drenched walk! LOUIS has the ambitious goal of bringing spaces alive simply using the elements of nature.

Hop! The Following Suitcase

This project is rather self explanatory with the title: Hop! is a suitcase that follows you. The case contains three receivers which pick up signals transmitted by your smartphone. These are then processed via the on board Arduino board into a location for the case to navigate to.

GiraDora: Safe Agua

Another one of our favourites, taking something so simple as washing clothes by hand and making it a much more beneficial process. The GiraDora reduces hand washing time from an hour to just 3-5 minutes, and cuts water usage down by a third. Perfect for the slums where this was tested.

Fil'o _ Parenting Aid For Deaf Parents And Hearing Children

Again, another amazing invention that's small in its form and technology; but groundbreaking in its implications. Fil'o is a watch for deaf parents that vibrate anytime their child is crying, making sure the Mother or Father with hearing difficulties doesn't miss a single moment of connection with the child.

Emergency Airdrop

Inspired by nature, the Emergency Airdrop is a parachute that acts just like a sycamore seed to fall softly to the ground and provide aid to those in need.

Balde a Balde

The Balde a Balde is a portable tap that removes the use of multiple dirty buckets to transfer water. Tested in the same Cerro Verde slum of Peru, this has shown a decrease of the possibility of contamination, therefore saving lives.

Alto

Sewing machines are rather hideous pieces of design, and wholly inaccessible to beginners in their usage. Luckily, this is where the UK-based Alto comes in, designed with ease in mind and looking pretty sleek at the same time.

All of this kind of makes me (and most probably many others) feel rather inferior with their monstrosities from design classes in school. It's certainly a bright future for design and technology.

Jason England

Jason England

I am the Founder and Editor-in-chief of New Rising Media. You can follow me on Twitter @MrJasonEngland.

New Rising Media Christmas Gift Guide: Technology

The standard gadgets recommended in Christmas gift guides across the globe are boring, and they quickly become unused after the first few days of use 'just to show Grandma you're enjoying her present.' It's with this determination to do better, both for you and your loved ones, that we have compiled ten presents that will not only fascinate people upon first use; but stand the test of time.

An Email From A Christian: Our Reliance On Energy Has Doomed Us All

So I received a rather condemning email from a Christian, which begins by following the classic 'doom and gloom' scenario of we people condemning ourselves through our lives of sin. Standard practice for several emails that I and probably various other journalists receive.

But this is different.

With an almost techno-environmental message as well, this different interpretation of the Bible's teachings has urged this particular individual to implore the people to adopt what is deemed 'The New Agenda.' Simply put, the proposition is to tear down our reliance on electricity and fuel, and rely on burning items such as 'blood rags' and 'urine' for energy. What follows is an extremely detailed account of the events that have led this person named Allison to her religious epiphany, including a rather alternate timeline of how the world ends (hint: it's not at the end of 2012 as the Mayans predicted). It's downright fascinating, if maybe for the wrong reasons.

An Interview with a Kopimist

So the story went viral not so long ago that a rather small 3,000 strong organisation, called the Church of Kopimism, had been confirmed as a religion by Swedish Officials. You may know this more as another coined term: 'The Church of file sharing.'

Starting as a term used in Pirate forum conversations to invite copying of information in the early 2000s, 'Kopimi' soon expanded in definition to a way of life and belief in the freedom to copy and be copied, not for political reasons; but for a much deeper purpose: sharing information, copying and building upon it just as a DNA strand's ability to replicate and evolve. The religion follows a key set of axioms, and carries a powerful missionary message:

- Copying of information is ethically right.- Dissemination of information is ethically right.- Copymixing is a sacred kind of copying, moreso than the perfect, digital copying, because it expands and enhances the existing wealth of information- Copying or remixing information communicated by another person is seen as an act of respect and a strong expression of acceptance and Kopimistic faith.- The internet is holy.- Code is law.

From all to one and from one to all – and then back again – exchange without beginning and without end. Everything to everyone’s delight, and everybody’s joy of it all. No one is excluded from the global community of knowledge and information sharing. Every believer has all knowledge – all knowledge is spread by every believer to all people without exception. Start the exponential cascade.

Christopher Carmean is in no way of special status beyond being a registered Kopimist living in America, as he urged to tell us before we began to ask him questions: "I am merely an enthusiastic Kopimist, hoping to share the faith in the USA and ultimately establish a legal non-profit entity to conduct religious services and charitable work." This made us much more appreciative, and all the more curious to hear his story.

An Interview With Kieron-Scott: The Guy Who Designed The Bamboo Smartphone

So the AD-Zero has been capturing the viral headlines everywhere: the title of 'smartphone made of bamboo' is something that will always find interest, curiosity and conservationalist inspiration in everyone.

But another side to this story proceeds, one that we're much more interested about, that expands beyond the 'allure' of such an original choice of material in mobile phone construction. One that speaks of the design finesses, the struggles of creating an idealistic balance between form and function, environmental responsibilities that go beyond what is normally found in the technology industry, a warmth to a product that you don't get with the trend of sterility that's formed from the industrial-monolithic design ethic of Apple products.

We talked with Kieron-Scott Woodhouse, Head Designer of the AD-Zero, and design student from The University of Middlesex, about not just the phone's technical insights; but the choices and inspirations taken while designing the phone, and the history of progress that has led to this stage.